Opposition parties gun for ‘biased’ City Speaker Felicity Purchase
City Speaker Felicity Purchase is expected to face a motion of no confidence next month over what opposition parties said was her failure to uphold the integrity of Council processes, particularly in relation to serious allegations levelled against Mayoral Committee members, among other reasons.
Purchase briefly stepped out of a meeting on Monday at the Civic Centre to receive the notice of a motion of no confidence against her which is set to be tabled at the Council meeting on 27 March.
The motion is being brought by a multi-party caucus, led by the ANC and includes other opposition parties such as the EFF, GOOD party, National Coloured Congress (NCC), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Al Jama-ah.
The multi-party caucus held a briefing after Purchase signed the receipt of the notice. The parties are seeking for the motion to be tabled due to what they called biased behaviour and use of bullying tactics by Purchase during council meetings.
They feel that Purchase “has persistently displayed a pattern of behaviour which is unbecoming” and that her actions “consistently betray the lawful expectation that the Speaker will at all material times act without fear, favour or prejudice”.
“The Speaker is required to be impartial, however, Councillor Purchase is always biased and protective towards her political party, the Democratic Alliance and its representatives.”
“On numerous occasions the Speaker has acted arbitrarily and with impunity and unilateralism in her attempts to protect the DA and stifle debates in Council,” they said.
They also feel that Purchase undermined the Programming Committee resolution that the first council meeting of 2025 will be physical, and that she “unilaterally changed this decision based on spurious ‘security reasons’”.
Opposition party members gathered outside the Civic Centre last month in protest calling for suspension of Mayco Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, after a raid was conducted by the Commercial Crimes detectives on his office, and the office of fellow Mayco Member, Xanthea Limberg.
A few days after the raid, the Speaker announced that the Council meeting would occur virtually, and not in person.
ANC councillor Banele Majingo said that their motion comes after concerns regarding the Speaker’s handling of critical matters.
“Our primary concern is the Speaker’s failure to uphold the integrity of Council processes, particularly in relation to the serious allegations against Mayoral Committee members, JP Smith and Grant Twigg.
“The allegation of housing tender fraud, involving Smith, and the improper cancellation of solid waste contracts under Grant Twigg’s watch require urgent impartial intervention. However instead of ensuring accountability the Speaker has presided over a Council that protects certain individuals from scrutiny while undermining the principle of fairness and justice,” Majingo said.
Both Smith and Twigg have spoken out against the allegations. Smith said that “political actors have been working on a smear campaign” against him after the raid on his offices. Twigg has told the media that he is aware of allegations against him, and has referred them to the Urban Waste management.
The EFF’s Banzi Dambuza called Purchase the “cockiest Speaker the City of Cape Town has ever had” and the reason they submitted the motion early is so that there are “no excuses” and there will not be “any delaying tactics in order for it not to come into Council”.
PA’s Cheslyn Steenberg said that they support the motion as they have also experienced the bias of the Speaker and bullying tactics.
“While we are the opposition in Council, we are also here to play an oversight role, and we’re going to do that effectively, however, the actions and behaviour of the Speaker is really trying to stop us from doing that effectively.”
Purchase said: “The Office of the Speaker is aware of a motion submitted by the ANC in the above-mentioned regard, and will follow due process as outlined in the requirements dealing with motions as contained under Rule 18 of the Rules of Order.”
Cape Times